Featured review by:
Shinozoku, on october 24, 2007
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 960
Purchased from: eBay
Features: Not sure what year it was made, but I'm almost positive that it was made in Japan. I don't have it next to me at the moment to check, sadly. This is the Alexi Laiho Arrowhead model, by the way. 3-piece maple neck, thru-body. Unfinished. Ebony fretboard w/ 24 frets and MOP Arrowhead inlays. Solid alder body Rhoads V shape with a cutaway. Black finish with yellow stripes along the inside of the bevel (they have a slightly orange tint not seen in the photos online that matches the hardware nicely). Gotoh tuners, original Floyd Rose trem system, single volume control, all gold plated. Passive EMG HZ-H4 pickup. Gig bag, whammy bar, allen wrenches for the nut and bridge, truss rod wrench, and Schaller strap locks. An excellent, simple guitar made for Alexi. I'd prefer a second pickup, as well as a different kind of pickup (like an active EMG or DiMarzios), but I couldn't pass up the looks. Plus, I rarely use the neck pickup, and I can swap this one out for practically nothing when I want to. // 8
Sound: I play metal of all varieties pretty much, as well as some classic rock and shred. I have a Kramer that I use for stuff that requires other pickups, but this guitar suits my main style (which might I remind you is METAL) just fine. What I've noticed is it's actually very easy to get a classic metal sound out of this as well, reminiscent of Iron Maiden. And a little bit of tweaking will nail Alexi's tone. I play this through an Ibanez TB25R (the old one), so I can't say how this would sound through a good tube amp, but it's still a big improvement over my Kramer. I must say though, that the HZ isn't as high-output as it's active counterpart, so you'll need to put heavier strings on your guitar or turn your gain up to get the desired distortion out of it. I plan on replacing it soon with a DiMarzio D-Activator or something else (I need to try out other pickups before I decide). In addition, the sound is very clear and articulate, and the harmonics are great, but the sustain is lacking. Above the 12th fret I can't get much more than about 5 seconds out of a note. I've read elsewhere that Edwards guitars tend to not have much sustain. But that was only after I bought this. Still, I can work around that problem for now. // 8
Action, Fit & Finish: This guitar arrived to me with it's strings lossened for shipping, but once I tuned it up (the bridge was adjusted for Standard tuning, of course) it played like sex on a slab of butter. I planned on raising the pickup, but when I looked at it I noticed it was already fairly close to the strings, so I didn't touch it for fear of getting it too close. The binding on the neck had some black, feathery looking patterning around where it meets the fretboard, but it took a long time to notice this. Other than that, I didn't notice any asthetic flaws. // 10
Reliability & Durability: This feels like a tank in my hands, so I think it could handle live playing. The hardware is solid, the strap locks will not come loose, and I would probably trust it without a backup. I don't abuse the whammy bar much, so I don't have to worry about breaking a string. The finish is thin (you can see just how thin at the base of the neck, where the finish stops), but it seems durable enough. // 10
Impression: I've played guitar for about 5 years now, and I own an Ibanez Artcore hollowbody, a Kramer 610, Jasmine acoustic (piece of crap that looks pretty), and the aforementioned Ibanez amp. This is the best guitar in my collection and I wouldn't sell it for anything (especially since it was a graduation present from my mom). I wish I had done some more research on Edwards guitars before I got it though, because of the sustain. Otherwise, if it were stolen, I'd figre out Who did it, take it back and impale the thief on it's pointy wing. // 9
/ my profile 
Was this review helpful to you? 
